The trouble with being engaged
by Cath1
Summary: Mac's drunk and Sloan's just, well, uncomfortable with the whole situation. Mac/Sloan friendship; Mac/Will.


The trouble with being engaged

Summary: Mac's drunk and Sloan's just, well, uncomfortable with the whole situation. Mac/Sloan friendship.

First thing I've written in a loooooong time. In fact, so long I didn't even realise I still had the urge to. But it's been a long week and I felt the need to write some light fluff-type piece. Hope you enjoy :-)

My first Newsroom fic – so still learning the characters' voices.

XxX

"You know," Mac starts, as she leans unsteadily across the bar at Hang Chew's, her alcohol tolerance being tested at least a glass of wine ago, "the trouble with being engaged is that I'm now even more celibate than I was when I was single." She takes another long sip of her wine, and Sloan wonders at what point she should cut her alcohol off.

"Uh, Kenzie, hon, I hate to point it out, but I'm not sure how you could become _more_ celibate than you were." Sloan regrets encouraging her friend even as the words come out of her mouth. There are absolutely no good directions in which this conversation can go, and she, Sloan, is potentially now responsible for whatever imagery results from it. And she had so many better topics of conversation which even Drunk!Kenzie could have participated in.

Actually, she realises as she takes a long sip (gulp) of her own drink in anticipation of needing to be able to deal with wherever the conversation goes, Mackenzie can be fairly difficult to direct off course once she has a topic she wants to indulge in. She takes another sip of wine as she realises that her input is fairly superfluous at this point. Probably she should just get drunk and hope that she has no recollection of this evening after the fact.

"I've been engaged nearly a whole week and. Nothing. At. All," these words require punctuating with a finger hitting down on the bar, precariously close to the nearly empty glass of wine, "on the action front. Nothing. Suddenly Will decides to be the world's most overly considerate guy and starts talking about not taking things too fast. And about how a lot of things have happened recently and perhaps we should spend some time together to talk before we jump into bed together. It's been over two years since I came back, during most of which time I've wanted him, how could we move slower?"

"Well, you did go from being not together to being engaged, without having actually planned to be together, so maybe it's not _too_ cautious to wait a while?" Sloan offers hesitantly. She wonders why, by now, Mackenzie hasn't found more female friends. Ones who are good at girl talk.

Sloan is fairly sure that it's the alcohol talking and not necessarily Mac (sexual frustration and wanting Will aside) since at other points this week, Mac's seemed quite happy with the state of her new relationship. In fact, Sloan muses, had she known that this was even a potential topic of discussion, she's fairly sure she would have avoided the bar this evening.

The plan had started innocently enough. Mackenzie had come into her office mid-afternoon, a latte in hand for Sloan, and lamented on the fact that they hadn't been out together "just the girls" in a while and "how about we go to Hang Chew's after work and catch up?" There had been mention of Mackenzie buying the drinks. And perhaps Sloan might be able to help Mac understand some economy-type questions she had.

Thinking back now, Sloan realises that Mac had been just a little too enthusiastic on her delivery of the lines, and the latte was a good touch to throw her off guard, both of which almost always indicated ulterior motives. Since arriving at the bar there had also been a suspicious lack of talk about the economy. And the only other topic of conversation Mac had started had been redirected at the mention of the name Don (in a singsong-y knowing way).

By now it is clear that Sloan has been enticed here under false pretences. Still, Mackenzie does seem to be buying the wine. She hopes.

"We didn't even wait this long when we met the first time," Mackenzie continues to lament with a dramatic sigh. She orders another glass of wine and finishes off her current glass. "In fact we barely waited a day, but we were young and… drunk." She smiles wistfully at the memory. "And Will had a hotel room upstairs at the function which he claimed had the best views of the city, which it did, although I only actually looked the morning after one of the best nights of…"

Sloan cuts her off from this reminiscence, fearing it may well provide mental images that she really could do without. "It's been a crazy few months and probably you both need to actually talk. And sleep." She tries, but Mackenzie doesn't appear to be buying it. Sloan tries a different tact, "And he knows that, you're, uh…" she struggles to find the words she wants to say. Not that she wants to talk about this at all. She wonders if perhaps now is the right time to casually bring up the economic implications of Obama's next 4 years in office. Or start discussing the basics of macroeconomics or Keynesian theory, or in fact anything other than this. "Well…, uh, interested?"

"I tried being subtle." Sloan wonders if this is actually possible. "I've tried being not so subtle. And on Wednesday in the cab on the way home after we had dinner at a lovely Italian restaurant, my hands were starting to go places that no hands would go innocently, and once we reached my apartment, he just kissed me and said goodnight with no intention of even trying to get into my apartment _or_ my pants! And Will's busy all weekend so clearly nothing is going to happen now." Mac struggles to bring the new glass of wine to her lips, wavers unsteadily on her seat, nearly slouching across the bar, clearly well past the point of sobriety. "I'm the most celibate engaged woman ever!" She exclaims, her voice now rising with her disappointment and upset. "I'm never going to have sex again! Ever!" she pronounces rather melodramatically.

This time her voice is clear and carries across the bar even with the background noise of karaoke (surprisingly bad karaoke, Sloan notes), and at this point Sloan really would like to not be here. Girl talk really is not her point of expertise. Still, she tries to be supportive. "I wouldn't give up just yet, Kenzie, it's you and _Will_, and…" she trails off. "Y'know, I really am _not_ good at this. Can't we just go back to talking about the economy as a metaphor? There's a level of comfort there that I have and, well, it saves me from having to actually talk and think about you and Will having sex, and now I've gone there, and oh God I need a drink." She downs the rest of her wine and orders another glass. It comes quickly.

"I'll get these," a voice announces over Sloan's shoulder, making her startle slightly, as a hand offers out a credit card.

Sloan turns round. "Oh God, how long have you been there?" she asks Will, who stands behind her smiling in amusement.

"Billy!" Mac drawls, a wide smile on her face. "What are you doing here?"

"I'm here to collect my mislaid fiancée. It's time for bed; we have an early morning tomorrow."

"But tomorrow's Saturday," Sloan states. "There's no work… And you were planning on taking Kenzie for a weekend away," she recalls. "Probably I should have remembered that before."

"A weekend away?" Mac looks confused. "But you said that you were busy this weekend?"

"It's just a little thing that I like to call a surprise. I was planning on waking you early tomorrow morning, taking you away to a nice hotel with a spa so you could relax and we could spend some time together, and, well... but then it was past midnight and you weren't answering your phone and I thought that probably it would be a good idea to actually tell you about the surprise so that you didn't drink too much and then spend the whole drive hungover and throwing up." Sloan takes a look at Mac, and thinks that possibly it is a bit late for that caution. She looks at Will and suspects that he's reached the same conclusion.

Mac pauses, confused. "So, it's not that you don't actually want me then?"

Will looks amused by the question, and then slightly awkwardly (Sloan assumes it is mostly on account of her presence), "I was waiting for the right moment."

"Billy!" Mac smiles even wider if possible. "That's… perfect!"

"Come on, Dulcinea. Time to get you to bed," Will says as he moves towards Mackenzie, places a supportive arm around her to help her stand.

"Are you okay to get home?" Will asks Sloan.

Sloan nods. "Yeah, I'm going to stay here a while and finish the wine. Have a good weekend." She tries to get the mental image out of her head of what their weekend away will probably entail.

"You too," Will offers before he starts to walk slowly, coaxing Mac towards the exit.

Mac leans against him, stumbles slightly as she tries to walk. "You so want me right now," she says in a drunken attempt to sound seductive. Which isn't very seductive at all.

Will laughs, but Sloan can hear him even over the background noise as he says quietly in Mac's ear, "always."

Sloan smiles, sips slowly at her glass of wine, and finally allows herself to think about her own romantic issues.

XxX


End file.
